Our Glassmaking-Inspired Season Continues with Premieres of Amy Nam's Of Breath & Fire
After our successful More Fire concert at the Rochester Fringe Festival, we invite you to join us this month for the premieres of Amy Nam's tantalizing piece, Of Breath and Fire for fivebyfive with Amy on electric harp!
Inspired by glass instruments created by glass artist Madeline Rile Smith, Of Breath & Fire's sonic timbres kaleidoscopically merge and detach, blurring and evolving in imitation of hot glass which expands, pops, and morphs in the presence of breath and flame. A video of Madeline’s flame work will accompany the piece.
Are you in Potsdam or Rochester? You're in luck! Our schedule is as follows:
Residency at The Crane School of Music Saturday, Oct. 22 (flute masterclass) Sunday, Oct. 23: Of Breath & Fire (World Premiere), 3 pm,Snell Hall, followed by Sunday evening student composition readings.
Residency at the Eastman School of Music Tuesday, Oct. 25: Grant workshop, 12:30-1:30 pm, ESM 514, FREE & open to the public Wednesday, Oct. 26: Of Breath & Fire (Rochester premiere) 7:30 pm, Hatch Recital Hall: FREE & open to the public. Join us after the concert for safe, participatory sugar glass smashing at the courtyard by Miller Center. Thursday, Oct. 27: Composition Symposium, 3:30-5 pm, ESM room 209: FREE and open to the public
In addition to performing on a traditional C and alto flute, Laura Lentz will be playing one of Madeline’s glass flutes specifically written into Amy’s piece. Evocative rather than literally descriptive, the music reflects the glass-maker's gestures, and grants listeners free license to connect their visual imaginings of liquid glass with sound. Additional music was chosen from repertoire that evokes qualities of glass by Brittany Green, Edie Hill, Patrick Burke, Philip Glass, Kari Telstad Sundet, and Anthony R. Green.
The commission for Of Breath & Fire has been made possible with generous funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Chamber Music America Endowment Fund.
Hear Of Breath & Fire composer/electric harpist Amy Nam talk about her piece.
To everyone who attended "More Fire" and participated in our post-concert sugar glass-smashing, we thank you! Here's what CITY's Jeff Spevak had to say about our concert:
"Hot tunes with fivebyfive and More Fire"
“'More Fire' was an ambitious piece of art timing. The audience watched a video screen set up at the back of The Theater at Innovation Square stage as a camera prowled the floor in real time at More Fire Glass Studio, just off of Monroe Avenue, where the staff was firing glass globes for a new sculpture...." Read more here.
Post-concert participatory sugar glass smashing was a big hit! ;)
